Officials: $300M available for new paid family, medical leave benefits
NEW HAVEN — Workers began applying Wednesday to receive up to 12 weeks of paid time off of work for circumstances in which they must care for themselves, a family member or newborn baby, while state officials assured that more than $300 million is available to fund the program in the long term.
Connecticut will become the eighth state in the country to guarantee paid family and medical leave when the first benefits are awarded on Jan. 1. This comes nearly two years after lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont reached a deal on legislation enacting the program, which is paid for by a halfcent payroll tax.
On Wednesday, Lamont and other officials said the program remained under budget and ahead of schedule during an event outside of Claire’s Corner Copia restaurant in New Haven, where owner Claire Criscuolo said her first employee is expecting to enroll before delivering a baby due in March.
“This is a blessing,” Criscuolo said. “First of all, responsible businesses like me were paying [for time off ] anyway and it’s hard, it’s hard to find the money when you’re a small business but you have to. Now we won't have to do that.”
Eligible workers can receive a portion of their regular earnings as a benefit under the program, which is calculated based on their wages. Weekly benefits will be capped at $780 at the start of the program next month, before increasing to $900 next year.
Andrea Barton Reeves, the chief executive officer at Connecticut Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority, said that about 500 people had signed up for the program by midday on Wednesday, within the authority’s projections for participation.
The more than $300 million currently available in a trust fund for the program is expected to surpass $410 million by the end of January, Reeves added, even as the first employees begin receiving benefits. Workers began paying into the program at the start of this year.
“Our most recent actuarial analysis tells us that, even with high usage, in five years from now the trust fund will remain solvent,” Reeves said. “So we’re not concerned about running out of money.”
Lamont said the program will relieve pressure on businesses such as Criscuolo’s restaurant, which had been offering paid leave benefits out-of-pocket, while also enticing new workers to move to the state in search of better benefits.
“I want to be the most family-friendly state in the country,” Lamont said. “I want people to know that one more reason you want to come to Connecticut is because we treat our workers with respect, we put a big emphasis upon kids and make it easier for you to keep working.”
Janée Woods Weber, the executive director of the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, said the 2019 legislation created “one of the most comprehensive paid leave programs” in the country, including benefits for workers facing domestic violence or issues related to a family member’s military deployment or injury.
“Now, almost two years into this pandemic, when workers need to care for a seriously-ill family member, or for themselves, paid family and medical leave will be there for them,” Woods Weber said. “Paid family and medical leave will also be there for them during moments of happiness, such as when they are welcoming a new child into their family.”
Critics of the program, including Republican lawmakers who voted against the legislation in 2019, said it would squeeze small businesses owners and increase the cost of living for lowerwage workers.
Prior to the start of payroll tax deductions earlier this year, Republican leaders questioned the financing of paid family and medical leave, writing in a letter: “This program promises a benefit of paid family leave that may never materialize.”
Lamont declined to delay the roll-out of the policy based on the GOP’s concerns. As of Wednesday, at least 123,735 employers in the state had registered for the payroll deductions, according to Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz.